Carnahan Demands Progress On Protecting Students, Creating Jobs
Press Release
Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-MO) today released a statement following published rumors of compromise being reached for a student loan interest rate extension and the Conference Committee report on a surface transportation reauthorization.
"We must reach a compromise to put Americans back to work and protect the paychecks of recent graduates," said Carnahan. "I challenge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to return to Washington and create fair, reasonable solutions to finish the jobs we have been sent here to do. It is critically important that we keep student loan interest rates at 3.4 percent to save thousands of dollars in repayments for recent graduates. Our economy is still too shaky to load these young people with additional personal debt."
This circumstance is not the first in which Rep. Carnahan has supported less expensive student loans. In 2005, Rep. Carnahan voted to cap student loan interest rates, followed by voting in 2006 to lower those rates.
Rep. Carnahan continued, "We must also finalize the surface transportation bill and send it to the President. The Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill that we could easily adopt, putting thousands of Americans back to work, saving millions in transportation costs, and beginning the reconstruction of our crumbling infrastructure. We cannot afford to wait until the last minute to get this accomplished."
As a senior Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Carnahan has been a leading public voice for the reauthorization of the surface transportation bill. He has also corresponded with the Conference Committee, advocating for environmental protections, transit funding flexibility, fraud fighting measure, and intelligent transportation solutions.
Last week, Rep. Carnahan spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives saying, "I've heard from so many people in St. Louis that I represent, small business owners, veterans, students and others. They're all saying the same thing, "put me to work'. They want to help rebuild our economy; they want to help create new American jobs. They are determined and so am I."
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